Orix Buffaloes
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The Script error: No such module "Nihongo". are a Nippon Professional Baseball team formed as a result of the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment by the merger of the Orix BlueWave of Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes of Osaka, Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The team plays in the Pacific League and is under ownership by Orix, a financial services company founded in Osaka.
The combined team began play in 2005. The Buffaloes split home games between Kyocera Dome Osaka, the home of the original Buffaloes franchise, and Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium, the former home of the BlueWave, when the Hanshin Tigers have to use Kyocera Dome. The Tigers' main home stadium, Hanshin Koshien Stadium, is used for the two biggest high-school tournaments in Japan, the Senbatsu in March, coliding with the opening of the NPB season, and during the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in August.
Through 2022, the club's all-time record is 5,543–5,297–410 (.511).
Franchise history
Hankyu/Orix (1936–2004)
Hankyu Braves
The franchise that eventually became the Orix Buffaloes was founded in 1936 under the ownership of a Japanese railway company Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., as Script error: No such module "Nihongo".. Later nicknamed the Hankyu Braves, it was one of the first professional baseball teams in Japan, and the oldest surviving team in the Pacific League.
In the early 1950s, the franchise made a dedicated effort to attract foreign talent, particularly African-American veterans of Negro league baseball,[1] including infielders John Britton and Larry Raines, and pitchers Jimmy Newberry and Jonas Gaines. These players were the first Americans other than Wally Yonamine to play Nippon Professional Baseball after World War II.
Starting in the mid-1960s, the Braves became one of the dominant teams not only in the Pacific League but in all of Japanese professional baseball. Between 1967 and 1972, the Hankyu Braves won the Pacific League pennant five times but lost the Japan Series each time against the Yomiuri Giants. Manager Yukio Nishimoto was known as "the great manager in tragedy" because of those losses. But the Hankyu Braves won Japan Series three times in a row from 1975, against the Tokyo Giants in 1976 and 1977, led by manager Toshiharu Ueda. At that time, many good players in Japanese baseball history played for the Hankyu Braves, including pitcher Hisashi Yamada and outfielder Yutaka Fukumoto.
In the 1980s, the team still was a strong contender in the Pacific League, but lost the PL pennant to the Seibu Lions every year except 1984; that year, the Braves fell to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in the Japan Series in seven games.
On October 19, 1988, Hankyu Railway sold the franchise to the lease company Orient Lease (since 1989 known as Orix Group), in what was known as "the longest day of the Pacific League". The reason is that when the franchise sale occurred, the Kintetsu Buffaloes played the legendary "10.19" double-header for the Pacific League pennant, only to miss the pennant out because of the second game ending in a tie. For Kintetsu to win the pennant, they had to win both games in the doubleheader against the Lotte Orions. The sale was a surprise; at that time, it was much rarer for a Japanese professional baseball team to change owners, not to mention for a large company to sell one of its parts. In that case, Hankyu Railway was thought of as one of the big companies that would never need to do such a thing. The sale was also a surprise, given that prior to Hankyu founder Ichizo Kobayashi's death in 1957, he decreed that under any circumstances, Hankyu must never sell the Braves and the Takarazuka Revue, both of which were passion projects of his. As it turned out, however, the Braves had to be sold in order for Hankyu to keep the Revue afloat.
The sale was not without two assurances: the team name would remain "Braves", and the franchise would stay in Nishinomiya. During the first two years of new ownership, the team was known as the Orix Braves and played in Nishinomiya.
BlueWave
In 1991, the team moved to Kobe and became the Orix BlueWave. Orix put out a poll to decide the new name, and unsurprisingly, people voted Braves. It was said that Orix put out another poll and told fans "Braves" was not allowed. What made it worse was in that second poll, "Thunder" was the winning name, which fit the new color scheme (when Orix bought the team, they changed their colors from black and red to navy blue and gold), and because the team's batting lineup was named Script error: No such module "Nihongo".. But, Orix went with "BlueWave". Longtime fans were shocked by these changes. One member of the Braves' cheering squad (応援団 ouendan) said that "the race was decided before the gun even went off".[2] Another thing that did not make sense to fans was they were named BlueWave while playing in then-named Green Stadium (now Kobe Sports Park Baseball Stadium) in a city whose official color is green. However, since Nishinomiya and Kobe are close to one another, and the new home field of the team was better than the old one, most fans accepted the move, although with some nostalgia for the historic "Braves" name. The team was sometimes called Script error: No such module "Nihongo". by fans and the baseball media, which means "blue wave" in Japanese.
Led by Ichiro Suzuki in 1995 and 1996, the Orix BlueWave won the Pacific League pennant. In 1996, they also won the Japan Series. In 2001, Suzuki moved to the Seattle Mariners and led the Mariners to a 116 win season, the most wins by an American League team.
Orix Buffaloes (2005 to present)
Following the 2004 Nippon Professional Baseball realignment, the BlueWave merged with the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. The team struggled since its merger, only finishing in the top half (or A Class) of the Pacific league once from 2005 to 2013. In 2008, The Buffaloes finished second in the Pacific League, going 75–68–1 and finishing <templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" />2+1⁄2 games behind the Saitama Seibu Lions, but were swept by the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters at home in the first stage of the Climax Series. After two seasons of finishing last in the Pacific League, they finished first in 2021, going 70–55–18. They swept the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their first Japan Series appearance since 1996. Ultimately, they were defeated by the Tokyo Yakult Swallows in six games. In 2022, despite a rough start to the season, the Buffaloes finished 1st after a 5–2 win over the Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles on the final day of the Pacific League regular season, combined with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks losing to the Marines, 5–2, at the same time the game was happening, and also because they had 5 more wins against the Hawks during the regular season, 15–10.[3] The Buffaloes would defeat the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks in the Final Stage of the 2022 Pacific League Climax Series, 4 games to 1, which set up a rematch of the previous year's Japan Series, but this time the Buffaloes exacted revenge on the Swallows, defeating them 4 games to 2. Following that campaign, Masataka Yoshida requested to be posted to MLB, and signed with the Boston Red Sox that offseason. In 2023, an 86-53-4 record yielded them their third straight Pacific League pennant, alongside Yamamoto winning his 3rd consecutive Triple Crown. They swept the Chiba Lotte Marines in the final stage of the Climax Series to make their third Japan Series appearance. However, the Buffaloes were defeated by the Hanshin Tigers in seven games. Yoshinobu Yamamoto's posting to MLB proved to be too much for the Buffaloes to handle, as without their legendary ace, the Buffaloes fell to a record of 63-77-3, ending the year in fifth place. Following that season, manager Satoshi Nakajima announced he was stepping down after he failed to guide the Buffaloes to their fourth straight pennant. He was replaced with Mamoru Kishida.
Current roster
Template:Orix Buffaloes roster
Baseball Hall of Famers
Elected mainly for Hankyu Braves service
- Yutaka Fukumoto, CF, 1969–1988 (inducted 2002)
- Takao Kajimoto, P, 1954–1973 (inducted 2007)
- Hisashi Yamada, P, 1969–1988 (inducted 2006)
- Tetsuya Yoneda, P, 1956–1975 (inducted 2000)
Elected for service with other teams, as well as Hankyu and Orix
- Hiromitsu Kadota, DH, 1989–1990 (inducted 2006)
- Futoshi Nakanishi, Head coach / Hitting coach, 1985–1990†, 1995–1997 (inducted 1999) †For Kintetsu Buffaloes
- Akira Ōgi, MGR 1988–1992†, 1994–2001, 2005 (inducted 2004)
- Toshiharu Ueda, MGR, 1974–1978, 1981–1990 (inducted 2003)
- Ichiro Suzuki, RF, 1992-2000 (inducted 2025)
Elected mainly for Kintetsu Buffaloes service
- Yukio Nishimoto, MGR 1974–1981 (inducted 1988)
- Keishi Suzuki, P, 1966–1985 (inducted 2002)
Notable former players and managers
as Orix Buffaloes
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Cliff Brumbaugh – RF
- Template:Country data MEXTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Karim García – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原 和博) – 1B/3B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Chihiro Kaneko (金子 千尋) – P
- Template:Country data KORTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Park Chan Ho – P
- Template:Country data KORTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Lee Dae-ho – 1B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Hiroyuki Nakajima (中島 裕之) – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yoshitomo Tani (谷 佳知) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yoshio Itoi (糸井 嘉男) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Tomotaka Sakaguchi (坂口 智隆) – OF/IF
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Ryan Vogelsong – P
- Template:Country data DOMTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Esteban Germán – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Atsushi Nomi (能見 篤史) – P
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Adam Jones – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Ryota Ishioka (石岡 諒太) – IF, OF
- Template:Country data VENTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Marwin González – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Motoki Higa (比嘉 幹貴) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". T-Okada (T-岡田) – IF/OF
as Orix BlueWave
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Roosevelt Brown – OF
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Doug Jennings – OF/1B (also known as D.J)
- Template:Country data KORTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Koo Dae-sung – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yasuo Fujii (藤井 康雄) – IF/OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Junichi Fukura (福良 淳一) – 2B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Shigetoshi Hasegawa (長谷川 滋利) – P – formerly of the Anaheim Angels and Seattle Mariners
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Troy Neel – 1B
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Chris Donnels – 3B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Mac Suzuki (マック 鈴木) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Masafumi Hirai (平井 正史) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Takahito Nomura (野村 貴仁) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Satoshi Nakajima (中嶋 聡) – C
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Kazuhiro Sato (佐藤 和弘) (also known as "Punch" Sato) (パンチ佐藤), OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Masahiko Kaneda (金田 政彦) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Koichi Oshima (大島 公一) – 2B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Ichiro (イチロー) – OF – of the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees of MLB's American League
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". So Taguchi (田口 壮) – IF, OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Ryūtarō (竜太郎) – OF
as Kintetsu (and Osaka Kintetsu) Buffaloes
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Charlie Manuel – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Norihiro Nakamura (中村 紀洋) – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Masahiro Doi (土井 正博) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Shintaro Yamasaki (山崎 慎太郎) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Hideo Nomo (野茂 英雄) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Keishi Suzuki (鈴木 啓示) – P
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Tuffy Rhodes – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Masato Yoshii (吉井 理人) – P
as Hankyu (and Orix) Braves
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Mitsuhiro Adachi (足立 光宏) – P – underhanded big-game pitcher who defeated the Yomiuri Giants
- Template:Country data CUBTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Roberto Barbon – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yutaro Imai (今井 雄太郎) – P – once pitched a perfect game
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Hideji Kato (加藤 英司) – 1B
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Brad "Animal" Lesley – P
- Template:Country data VENTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Bobby Marcano – IF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Hiromi Matsunaga (松永 浩美) – 3B
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Tokuji Nagaike (長池 徳士) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Kazuhiko Ishimine (石嶺 和彦) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yutaka Fukumoto（福本 豊）– OF – steal the most bases in NPB up to now
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Nobuyuki Hoshino (星野 伸之) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Takao Kajimoto (梶本 隆夫) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Koji Minoda (簑田 浩二) – OF
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Yoshinori Sato (佐藤 義則) – P
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Hisashi Yamada (山田 久志) – P
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Daryl Spencer – IF
- Template:Country data USATemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Greg "Boomer" Wells – 1B (the first non-Japanese triple crown hitter in NPB history[4])
- Template:Country data JPNTemplate:Namespace detect showallScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Masafumi Yamamori (山森 雅文) – OF
MLB players
Active:
- Masataka Yoshida (beginning 2023)
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto (beginning 2024)
Former:
- Adam Jones (2020–2021)
- Mac Suzuki (2003–2005)
- Joey Butler (2014)
- Hideo Nomo (1990–1994)
- Shigetoshi Hasegawa (1990–1996)
- Masao Kida (1998, 2000–2001)
- So Taguchi (1992–2001, 2010–2011)
- Koo Dae-Sung (2001–2004)
- Tuffy Rhodes (2007–2009)
- Joey Meneses (2018–2019)
- Ichiro (1992–2000)
- Park Chan Ho (2011)
- Yoshihisa Hirano (2018–2020)
- Brandon Dickson (2013–2021)
- Masato Yoshii (1997–2002)
- Marwin González (2023–2024)
Managers
- Statistics current through the end of the Template:Npby season.[5]
Theme song
The Buffaloes' current theme song is "Sky" by Japanese band Mega Stopper. The song was first used in 2005. Another version that is used is sung by the club's cheerleading squad, BsGirls.
Mascots
- 1981 until 1990
-
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #100, a large bird
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #101, a younger bird
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo"., a baseball-headed warrior
- 1991 until 2010
-
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #111, a young boy
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #222, a young girl
- since 2011
-
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #111, a male hybrid of oryx and buffalo, Bell's brother
- Script error: No such module "Nihongo". #222, a female hybrid of oryx and buffalo, Bull's sister
References
External links
Template:Orix Buffaloes Template:Japanese Professional Baseball Template:Authority control
- ↑ Zurui, "Negro Leaguers in Japan," Template:Webarchive BlackTokyo (September 12, 2008).
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